Will Newman
(ob)literate
The kids all
laughed when
I mentioned Jesus’s
abs There are ways
we’re all reduced
to symbols OK
structures The daily
feels more and more
waterfall I keep
Telling them how
Narrative emerges
Pokeweed on cleared
land Wherein I failed
To annihilate the spotted
Lantern fly with The Collected
Poems of James Schuyler
The bug shit soiled the soil
Aphids in the crucifers
I never noticed the snake
Under Mary’s feet either
The shapely building’s Outer
edge reveals the way Space
collects on the inside while
Numbers of lit windows
is about capital And the
number of windows is
about capital It is necessary
To forget we are Surrounded
The garden’s chard remains
Stunted by the fecund
motherwort and it’s
American history! that
Memorializes throughout
the city Distracted
eyes drawn to stations
of the cross I’ll admit
to occasional Serenity
prayers exiting Highways
below vaulted underpasses
Cathedrals abound
Connection is not
The problem The cautious
fruiting of Our neighbor’s
peppers A mounting police
presence Each railing
a recollection Showering
pumpkins on the vine
Alienation is so effective
Because it feels so bespoke
Rendered to the general
Oblivion of a universal
Particularity: a humble
posture Mulch poked
Socks and the problem
of order Oh is this grief
mine Left to our own devices
We run out of space
Climax as decoration
Atop connective tissue
That there may be a point
Blossoms attract The highest
reach Is all adornment
All writings and buildings
Ducks and decorated sheds
Constellations and religious
Iconography hallelujah
Hucksters with blueprints
for the future I am not
allowed The concept
of windows Training cukes
Around a salvaged easel
Despite such examples
Of neural plasticity
Labor markets don’t
Adapt like magic
Traffic spectacles
Overturned freeway
desires Shedding
details split overripe
Sungolds at le fin
du oof There are
No plot structures
for end times Revelation
is a condo building
in Northern Liberties
Obliteration at its root
where we’ve always been
written Matter over written
Matter given all the unknowns
We’re living with we try
To know as much as we can
Constant genuflection
Working for holy ghosts
and blueberries Weeding
the outline Everyone
kneels somewhere Inside/
Outside human/animal
sacred/profane Emerge
in readily erasable Markings
on the white Board
but the students Complain
about legibility
note on queer poetics #4
enough with
the western
decadent I
don’t care
what drugs
you did last
night yes de-
sire is desire
in poetry is
fundamental
ie unavoidable
but what i want
is discipline and
what’s more
liberation (all of it)
Will Newman (they/them) is an educator and poet—among other more-or-less relevant things—living in Philadelphia, PA. You can find their currently available ~poems here.